The president and CEO of the South Bruce Grey Health Centre is happy with how his staff responded when faced with a potential Ebola patient.
Paul Rosebush says the provincial Ebola response protocol went into action about ten days ago when a patient with fever symptoms checked in to the emergency department in Kincardine.
He says they isolated the patient after learning the patient had recently travelled to Africa, even though it was to an area not currently being impacted by the deadly Ebola virus.
Rosebush says staff immediately donned protective equipment and notified Grey Bruce Health Unit officials, as is required as part of the provincial Ebola protocol. They were able to quickly rule out Ebola.
"Our staff immediately isolated this patient and put on the right kind of equipment, and contacted Public Health as per the protocols. After doing our preliminary testing and consulting with Public Health, we were able to release this patient in under three hours," says Rosebush.
Rosebush says putting the Ebola protocol into action gave them a chance to identify areas that need improvement.
They have changed the emergency department entrance in Kincardine to be more streamlined to ensure patients coming in are kept segregated until they are treated.
